Passing drivers helped get guests to the wedding of Leicester City star Andy King after their coach broke down.

Motorists stopped to give lifts to 55 out of 70 guests, including Andy’s parents, who were left were stranded when their coach broke down at about 11.40am on Saturday in Market Harborough – 11 miles from the church and just 20 minutes before the service was due to start.

The drivers came to the rescue as the 29-year-old Welsh international midfielder was due to tie the knot with fiancee Camilla Middleton at St Andrew’s Church in Great Easton, Rutland, at noon.

Camilla’s father, lawyer Julian Middleton, praised the drivers and compared it to the Dunkirk spirit - when an armada of small boats crossed the Channel to evacuate Allied solders from the beach in 1940.

Mr Middleton, who lives in Illston on the Hill, near Market Harborough, said: “It was brilliant.

“It really reminded me of the Dunkirk spirit but a more modern version.

“We are all so very thankful to all the drivers who kindly stopped to help.

“To get so many of the guests here so quickly was amazing. Not one single driver would taken any money.”

Andy King marries Camilla Middleton (Image: Copyright unknown)

The wedding service was delayed to allow the guests to arrive and went ahead at 12.40pm.

Andy King, currently on honeymoon in Greece, took time out to send a thank-you message.

He said: “Me and all my family would like to thank all the drivers who stopped their cars and ferried everyone from the coach to the church so the wedding could take place.”

Mr Middleton, the national head of employment law at Freeths lawyers in Leicester, said he was at home with his daughter – the bride – when he got a phone call from his brother Eddie.